Hunting

[biteme]

Did you ever shoot a bird or an animal for sport and feel like shit about it? I found out a long time ago that I'm not a hunter. I had always shot at birds but I don't think I ever hit one. When I finally did and I watched it die, I felt like shit. That cured me of Hunting's disease. Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-hunting. We kill for food and for survival. I'm just a sensitive pussy and don't like to hurt things. Unless they piss me off.

 

[Mad4Iron]

Any true hunter feels regret and sadness after taking an animal.If I ever lost that,I'd give it up.

Mad

 

[Silent Method]

I think a distinction must be made between hunting, either for sport or food, and simply killing an animal because you can.

As Mad said, a true hunter will feel sorrow for his prey. In fact, a kinship develops between the hunter and his quarry that cannot be explained to anyone who has not had the experience.



But yes, I can remember a similar incident. Me and a friend were shooting at a squirrel just for the hell of it. We were using a bb gun and a pellet gun.

After some chase, we finally tree'd the poor guy on top of a telephone pole. We managed to get a few rounds into him, including one in his face. The little guy just kept looking down on us wondering why we were hurting him.


I felt, and still feel like shit about that. I'd give alot to take it back.


Would I hunt squirrels today? Sure. What I did as a kid wasn't hunting - it was just kids being stupid.

 

[jeremys]

i have shot many things. i don't go out hunting just to shoot/kill something. venison tastes great and it's fun w/ the woods and animals. i always say that i've 'taken' a deer, i've never 'killed' a deer as that would imply i kill for fun

 

[RADAR]

I thought i was going soft as i've gotten older,i've even stopped in the highway to help a turtle get across...and i still can't believe i actually did it!!



RADAR

 

[gmanlax7]

we shot a squirrel way up in a tree and it fell from the branch and lay on the ground quivering, probly paralyzed

the chimp took out his mini cross bow he got at the flea market and put one in its head , that was pretty sick

another time my boy fromschool who is overseas now hit a chipmunk with about 10 bb's, it was flopping everywhere and blood was spraying out of it

this was just as a little kdi and his dad walked by

i didnt realy see how my little buddy was army material until this coldblooded moment

 

[Silent Method]

I thought i was going soft as i've gotten older,i've even stopped in the highway to help a turtle get across...and i still can't believe i actually did it!!



RADAR

I helped a big 'ol snapper across a highway last fall.

 

[oubeta]

Hunting has to happen now days. If you check the deer pop in OK from the 1930's and now it has tripled. They are inbreeding and starving to death. If the female (doe) doesn't breed with the dominant Buck the genes get all fucked up and they develope diseses and mutations. It is nescesary to control the pop. Hunters pay for 90% of wildlife conservation through deer tags ect. Even though people say it's cruel it has to happen to keep a strong healthy deer heard. I'm on a D-Map program on my ranch where the wildlife dept. surveys the buck to doe ratio and issues extra tags to get the pop back in check. Last year we were issued 125 extra d-map doe tags, which means we needed to kill 125 does to get the buck to doe ratio where it should be. We killed one buck and about 30 does. We donated the meat the hunters against hunger who process the meat and give it to the poor. ANd gave it out to people at the gym, best protein meat you can find. Sounds bad killing all those momma deer, but the land can only support so many before they start inbreeding and not breeding with dominant bucks and it fucks the gene pool all up.
THe wildlife dept knows their shit, better you get meat out of the deal rather them starve to death don't you think? Hunters are the key to conseration, they care more about he animals and land than any politician.

 

[oubeta]

Look up the wildlifedepartment.org in your state and see where the pop is now from 30-50 years ago, you would think it would have decreased my a lot, total opposite. they are breding like wildfire and out of control in most areas. I've killed tons of deer and yes sometimes I feel bad when my arrow wounds the deer and it sits there and screams like a girl, but I know I'm doing them a favor by making the herd stronger and healthier. Hunting is a true sport. I'm an avid longbow hunter and it takes great skill to kill a deer with a longbow. There are so many factors that are against you. they smell you from 100's of yards away if the wind is right and you have to put in tons of time getting to know their routines and bedding habits. I think rifile hunting nowdays is kinda cheating with the advances in guns. If you see a deer within 400yrds he is toast. A real hunter uses a bow and spends days in the woods getting to know every aspect of thier movements. Even your shampoo they will smell or deodorant. You have to play the wind just right and know where they are moving from. It takes years to perfect the skills to bow hunt. I'll post my deer I got this season if someone will post them for me.

 

[Silent Method]

I think rifile hunting nowdays is kinda cheating with the advances in guns. If you see a deer within 400yrds he is toast

This is bull. Yes, many of today's advanced rifle are much more accurate then ever before. However, a rifle that shoots .5 inch groups at 300 yards certainly does not mean that the shooter can shoot .5 inch groups at 300 yards.

Very few hunters are truely competent enough to take a crack at a deer at 400 yards. Those that can do so and take the deer with one precise shot are very skillfull indeed.

In the United States, most deer taken by rifle hunters AND bow hunters are taken from a tree stand at less than 75 yards.

 

[Mad4Iron]

I use a recurve bow with cedar arrows,no sights.Just the old way.

Mad

 

[chesty]

Nope!

 

[The Ranger]

Alot of great sportsmen on this thread...and I feel exactly the same way....Good post.

And for the record, I still use an old Browning re-curve myself.....

Ranger

 

[Zebo]

LOL My father made sure that everything I killed...I ate.
If I killed even a meadowlark while hunting, you can bet your ass my dad would cook it, sit there and make me eat it.

Good lesson though. Never was into thrill killing.....

I still use his 303 Enfield.......